The present disclosure relates generally to the testing of integrated circuits (ICs), and more particularly to an improved system and method for testing wireless communication devices.
Manufacturers of electrical/electronic devices such as ICs, radio frequency (RF) circuit devices, printed circuit boards, and other electronic circuits, typically use automatic test equipment (ATE) or similar other test systems to test the devices during the production process. The test systems are generally configured to apply a test signal to the device and measure its response to determine a pass or fail status. A device under test (DUT) is typically mounted on a test board, which in turn is secured to a test head. Test signals generated by the test system are communicated to the DUT via the test head and the test board.
Presently, use of wireless communication technology has experienced a rapid growth since the wireless technology when used with portable electronic devices combine information accessibility with user mobility and convenience. Many of these portable devices such as notebook/pocketbook computers, personal entertainment devices, and personal communications devices or a combination thereof typically use various wireless communication devices such as radios and wireless network interface cards (NIC's) to communicate between themselves and/or with other wired or wireless networks, including intranets and the Internet.
Multiple technological standards may be adopted for use in wireless media applications. For example, IEEE 802.11, Bluetooth, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), and Infrared Data Association (IrDA) are widely accepted standards for wireless communications. Regardless of the standard used, wireless devices typically operate in certain predefined frequency spectrum.
A mixed signal ATE tester having an RF signal source is typically deployed in a production environment to test a DUT with RF devices, such as RF transmitters, receivers and/or transmitters/receivers combined into one unit, which may also be referred to as ‘transceivers’. Such mixed signal ATE testers, however, are generally expensive to procure and maintain due to the complexity of the ATE system resulting from performing ongoing upgrades, calibration and maintenance. The cost of these testers adds significantly to the cost of testing each integrated circuit (IC) which reduces the profit margin of the IC. In addition, such testers may provide a limited throughput for RF signals and may not support simultaneous testing of multiple DUT's, thereby limiting production throughput.
Therefore, a need exists to provide an improved method and system for testing wireless semiconductor devices. Specifically, there is a need for simultaneously testing multiple DUT's such as transceivers without deploying expensive ATE testers having an RF signal source. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an efficient method and system for testing wireless devices, absent the disadvantages found in the prior techniques discussed above.